The Man Trail
by Wittyheroine
Summary: Rory Gilmore, infamous journalist for the campaign trail, is coming home after two years of traveling…and the men from her life before couldn’t be happier. She’s no longer on the campaign trail…the men are on her trail. From the ex high school boyfriends,


The Man Trail

Summary: Rory Gilmore, infamous journalist for the campaign trail, is coming home after two years of traveling…and the men from her life before couldn't be happier. She's no longer on the campaign trail…the men are on her trail. From the ex high school boyfriends, to the ex college boyfriend, to the one that never got a chance to be the boyfriend, this is one trail Rory Gilmore just might not want to be on after all. The only question is, if they're all chasing after her, who will make it to the finish line?

Chapter One

Squeeze of death and** It**

"What about this one?" Sookie St. James asked Lorelai Gilmore, holding up yet another wedding invitation.

"It's too frilly," said Lorelai.

"You said that about the last one," Sookie said pointedly.

"Well, it's not my fault. Weddings and frills seem to go together. Whoever came up with associating the two really should have been medicated," said Lorelai, tossing the invitation sample Sookie had just shown her to the side.

"Honey, you've got two weeks to get these things sent out, and your getting married the fourth week," said Sookie.

"And your point is?" Lorelai asked.

"QUITE PROCASTINATING!" Sookie shouted.

Lorelai jumped. "My god, are you trying to kill the bride by scaring me to death?" Lorelai said.

"Hmm…not a bad idea at this point," Sookie joked.

"Hey!" Lorelai exclaimed, sounding injured.

"Well, I'm sorry, but your being picky, and you have no right to be picky. You were the one that decided that you and Luke had to get married in a month," said Sookie.

"Well, if you recall, the last time I gave him time, he found out about his secret daughter and backed out so I had a good reason to want to hurry up the process this time around," said Lorelai.

"Oh, right," said Sookie, "maybe it is a good time you're doing a quickie wedding."

"It's brilliant timing," said Lorelai, "and I promise, as soon as Rory comes home tomorrow, I will stop being all pouty and indecisive and actually make some decisions."

"Oh that's right, she's coming home tomorrow," said Sookie, "I forgot about that. Oh, its so exciting! She's a fresh, up and coming reporter coming home off the campaign trail to her Mom's wedding. Ah, to be twenty three again."

"Yeah, well, I just hope she doesn't kill me," said Lorelai.

"Why would she want to kill you silly? You're her mom and her best friend," said Sookie.

"Do you not remember _the thing_?" said Lorelai.

"Oh the thing," said Sookie, like she really knew what Lorelai was talking about, and then she looked at Lorelai, saying, "I have no clue what the thing is."

"Oh! C'mon Sookie, the whole towns been talking about him coming back ever since Luke and I announced we were getting married. His name rhymes with Tess," said Lorelai.

"Oh!" Sookie said. "Jess. Is he coming in for the wedding after all?"

"Well Luke did ask for him to be his best man after all," said Lorelai, "after Liz roped him into doing it."

"God I wish I had her powers of persuasion," said Sookie, "look at it this way…it could be worse. You could have T. J. to rely on. Jess at least won't loose the rings."

"I know, I know," said Lorelai, "and Luke was planning on asking him anyway. But it's just weird. I don't want things to be awkward for Rory after all."

"Like it won't be already?" said Sookie. "You're Mother probably sent announcements to everyone Rory knows to announce her return. Emily Gilmore never does anything small after all."

"_Don't joke_," said Lorelai, "the last thing Rory needs is every guy she's ever dated hunting her down. I'd rather not have her hiding during her entire trip from all those guys she turned into lovesick puppies."

"Well if she is, you'll have no one to blame but yourself," said Sookie, "I mean, its your genes that made her so beautiful and witty."

"Hey, what about brains? I gave her the brains too," said Lorelai.

"Really, because I think she got those from Christopher," said Sookie, "I mean, he at least knows how to cook macaroni and cheese from a box, whereas your cooking skills are limited to the microwave and toaster."

"That, my friend, is precisely why I'm marrying a man that knows how to cook," said Lorelai, "and because he has a great butt."

"That he does," Sookie agreed.

"And that butts going to be mine and only mine in a few weeks," said Lorelai.

"Right, and as that is the case, we need invitations if you want people to actually come to this thing," said Sookie.

Lorelai groaned. "But that means looking at more lace. I don't want to look at more lace. I'm sick, sick, SICK of lace."

"Why don't you just stick Luke's face on Brad Pitts body, yours on Angelina Jolies, lyrics to ACDC's Highway to Hell and then post them all around town?" said a familiar voice from behind.

"Brilliant!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Now who can I thank-" Lorelai started to say as she turned around to talk to the person and let out a squeal of surprise when she saw that it was none other then Rory.

"Oh my god," said Lorelai giving her a hug, "what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here until tomorrow."

"Well there was a seat left in business class on an earlier flight and my boss found this and knew I was coming home to see family so he got me booked on it with no cost to me whatsoever."

"I always did like that Ted," said Lorelai.

"Mom, when are you going to learn my bosses name?" said Rory.

"When he gives you that million dollar raise," she said.

"Right then so never," said Rory.

Sookie, who had gotten distracted by invitations, looked up just then and noticed that Rory was there. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, throwing the invitations up in the air and running to give Rory a hug. Only it wasn't just a hug, it was more like the squeeze of death. "Rory! The golden child! You're back, you're back! Now you can take your insane mother off of my hands and help her plan the wedding."

"Hi, Sookie," said Rory, "great to see you to…um, Mom?"

She looked at her Mother pleadingly, hoping that Lorelai would be able to get Sookie to let her go. "Um, Sookie, hun, I know you're glad to see Rory and all, but that is my child you're squeezing to death and I would like her living," said Lorelai.

"Oh, right," said Sookie and she quickly let go of Rory. "Oh, look at you. Doesn't she look fabulous? She looks fabulous doesn't she?"

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah," she said, "you do look fabulous sweets."

"Thank you," said Rory, "but I really don't feel it. I just spent two hours on a plane with a baby screaming in my ear. I hope I never have children."

"But I wanted to have something small that I could spoil," said Lorelai.

"That's why you have Paul Anka," Rory reminded her.

"Oh, right," said Lorelai, "I'm good then. So, I can't stand being around all this lace anymore then I have to-"

"Lorelai, you have to-" Sookie started to say.

"Sookie, if you deprive me of coffee any longer, then I'm going to strangle you with half of the lace that's in this store," said Lorelai.

Sookie laughed nervously. "Okay, okay," she said, "but you had better have been kidding about going with Rory's idea for invitations." Lorelai and Rory exchanged amused looks.

"Daft, daft, woman," said Lorelai.

"She should know better," said Rory.

"Know what better?" said Sookie, suddenly panicked. "Know what?"

"Let's get some coffee," said Rory. 

"Agreed," said Lorelai. 

"Westons or Luke's?" Rory asked.

"Seriously, you're asking me this? Especially now, you still have to ask me this?" Lorelai asked.

"Right then, Luke's," said Rory.

Sookie grabbed Lorelai just then. "Um, honey, I really think we should go to Westons," said Sookie.

"Sookie, don't be ridiculous," said Lorelai, "why go to Weston's? At Weston's I can't get free coffee. I'm not engaged to anyone at Weston's."

"But what about the _thing?_" Sookie said.

Rory looked at the two of them confused, not fully understanding what was going on at the moment. "Thing?" said Lorelai. "What thing?"

"The thing that comes in the form of the one that scowls a lot," said Sookie.

"OH!" said Lorelai. "But Weston's coffee's too sweet. I want good coffee."

"Well, unless you want things to be awkward for the thing and Rory then I suggest that you wait until they both know that the other is here so that the thing doesn't bail on Luke," said Sookie.

"But the thing knows she's coming home," said Lorelai, "it has to. I mean, it wouldn't think that my own daughter wouldn't come home for my own wedding. It's grown up a lot so I know it isn't dumb."

"Did you guys book a psycho clown to greet me? That's so sweet," said Rory jokingly, "but seriously, you didn't have to."

"Psycho clown?" Sookie said. "Who said anything about psycho clowns?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but you keep on referring to _it _and it was too hard not to make a good joke about the movie," said Rory.

"Oh, the killer clown _It_," said Lorelai, "now I get it."

"You are truly my Mother," said Rory, smiling.

"Did you ever have any doubt?" Lorelai said. 

"Well, the time when I found the Barry Manilow c.d. underneath your seat," she said, "I seriously thought about getting a dna test after that."

"Evil child," said Lorelai, sending Rory a glare.

"You love me," said Rory.

"Yeah, well, you've been gone too long so I'm going to let that comment go," she said.

"HELLO!" Sookie shouted, making the attention turn back to her. "As much as I love seeing the mother daughter act back in business after a long, extended absence from one another, Lorelai, we still haven't come to a conclusion about IT!"

"Oh, right," said Lorelai, looking confused about what she should do. "But she just got back. That's not exactly a great welcome home gift."

"Yeah, well, you can't let her go in there not knowing," said Sookie, "she has to have some preparation."

"Hello," said Rory, "I'm standing right here and _she _doesn't like being talked about when I'm standing right here."

"Make up your mind Lor," said Sookie.

"Drat!" said Lorelai. "Stupid It for coming early and interfering with my coffee."

"I still have no clue what this _it _is that you're freaking out about," said Rory.

Sookie and Lorelai exchanged glances. "Fine, fine, I'll tell her," said Lorelai with reluctance and she turned and looked directly at her daughter.

"Honey, I know you just got back and this is the last thing that you need to here but---"

"Jess is back!" Sookie blurted out just then, saving Lorelai from having to tell Rory herself.

"Thank you, peanut gallery," said Lorelai, shooting Sookie a look.

"Sorry, but you were going _too slow_," Sookie said, "and it was driving me crazy."

"Impatient," Lorelai told her.

"Procrastinator," Sookie shot back.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and then turned to look at Rory. "So?" she said. "How are you feeling about this?"

There was a moment of silence during which Rory said nothing and just looked off into space. Then, finally, the twenty-three year-old sighed and said, "I'm feeling like I want some coffee."

Sookie and Lorelai exchanged glances and then looked back at Rory. "Seriously?" said Lorelai. "That's all you're feeling?"

"That's all I'm feeling," said Rory.

"Are you sure?" said Sookie. "Because this is a small town of loons. If you wanted to scream out, I'm certain that everyone else would look the other way. People tend to ignore crazy here because everyone's crazy if you haven't noticed."

"Look, guys, I'm fine," said Rory, "I'm over Jess. As a matter of fact, Jess and I are actually friends now."

Lorelai and Sookie looked at each other again, surprise written on both of their faces. "Really?" they both said in unison, surprised.

"Yeah, really," said Rory, "we had to stop in Philadelphia a lot on the campaign trail for some odd reason and Jess and I hung out almost every chance we had when I was there. It's no big deal that he's here, honestly."

"So we don't have to go to Weston's?" Sookie said.

"No, we most definitely don't have to go to Weston's," said Rory.

"Well then, yay for me," said Lorelai, "c'mon. I have a hunky fiancé waiting as well as good coffee."

Sookie still didn't believe that Rory was fine with this. "So, you're _sure _we don't have to go to Weston's?"

Rory simply smiled and shook her head. "Yes, Sookie," she said, "I'm sure."

"Okay then," said Sookie sounding skeptical.

"Now c'mon," she said, "let's go get coffee. I need it after that long plane ride." Rory headed out the door of the wedding store ahead of them, and once she had gone outside, Sookie and Lorelai exchanged looks yet again.

"So how long do you think that whole friends thing lasts between the two of them?" Sookie asked.

"Oh, three days tops," said Lorelai, "depending on who else she runs into."

"Who else could she possibly run into?" Sookie asked.

"Well, Dean's still working at Dooses, and if I know my daughter she will need something sugared at some point and we've got Friday night dinner this week to which, if I know my Mother, will be turned into some big welcome home Rory event and god knows who she could meet from her past there," said Lorelai.

"Logan's in California though, remember?" said Sookie. "It's not like he's going to come home miraculously around about the same time that she does."

"Clearly you underestimate my Mother," said Lorelai, "if Rory even gave her an inkling that she was still thinking about Logan, Mom would be able to find him even if he were in limbo."

"Poor kid," said Sookie, "why'd she have to be smart and pretty? Then she wouldn't have all the boys in love with her."

"She has made turning men into lovesick puppies an art form," said Lorelai, "I couldn't be more proud." She smirked.

Just then, Rory, who noticed that Sookie and her Mom weren't following her, stuck her head into the wedding shop. " Hey, c'mon guys," said Rory, "the coffee's going to get cold if you two don't hurry."

Sookie and Lorelai smiled at one another and then headed out the door, following Rory into Luke's. Rory's homecoming certainly was going to be interesting…very, very interesting.

A/N: So after a long hiatus, I am back. Sorry, but this year was funky and I did two school plays which took up most of my time, and I also had no time to write fanfiction because I was writing my second novel (which has nothing to do with the first one) so I wasn't able to update anything. That and I needed inspiration to write something and I hadn't been able to think of anything. But now I'm writing this, so maybe I'll update some of my other stuff.

Scott Boys and Gilmore Girls is done for now at the moment. I just can't get inspired to write another chapter, but The Safe Haven and Dear God Shoot Me Now still have hope.

If you're looking for something new to read, check out my like, fifth attempt at writing an HP marauders era fanfic with Gilmore Girls storylines called Joking down the aisle. It's got a couple story lines from seasons one, two, and five because I made James into a Tristan/Logan like character.

If you're curious about what guys are going to be in this fic, the answer is all of them but Marty. Logan, Dean, Jess and Tristan are going to be in it. So, I know this chapter is al little lame but its just the first one and I just wanted to bring Rory back into the town and get an idea of what's going on.

I was really bored when I wrote this and I got the idea from the Gilmore Girls movie they've been talking about doing. I thought they would do a story line revolving Rory and all the men from her life, just because she'd have her career and everything by then. So, there you go. Its up and I'm back. Please review.


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